The present invention relates to a process of making a picture frame and especially to a process of making a picture frame having a decorative border around a center window for mounting a photo or the like.
In the past, it has been common to make a wide variety of picture frames. A typical picture frame is formed having an edge molding having a rectangular shape with mitered corners and having a sheet of transparent glass or plastic, such as an acrylic sheet, mounted under an edge lip on the molding. A mat is positioned under the transparent sheet of glass having a cutout center portion for mounting artwork. Usually a non-porous backing and a stiff backing are positioned behind the artwork within the frame molding. The glass, mat, artwork, and backing can be held in place within the molding using small nails or the like to hold the framed artwork together. A hanger is typically added to the frame which may consist of screw eyes on two sides of the edge molding connected by a hanging wire.
The prior art also includes the use of picture frames made out of acrylic sheets which have had screen printed images on one side of the acrylic sheet. The image is printed to form a border having a transparent center portion where the print can be mounted. This becomes very labor intensive because printing each of the colors in the design requires that the acrylic sheet be passed through the press another time. Designs can also be screen printed onto an acrylic sheet. The screen printing does not produce the fine details in the print and to obtain finer detail requires much more expensive screen printing which still does not produce the fine details produced in off-set printing. This procedure can be utilized for printing solid borders onto an acrylic sheet having a transparent center portion for mounting a picture adjacent thereto for viewing from the other side of the sheet. Decorative frames can also be made using an acrylic sheet having border artwork offset printed onto a piece of paper which is then die cut to the shaped specifications. The die cut printed paper is slid into a clear acrylic frame. This tends to look cheap and unappealing to customers and, in addition, custom dies for custom shapes increases the cost of making the plastic picture frame. In any process, it is also desirable to mount a frame easel or hanger on the back of the acrylic picture frame in order to support the picture frame on a desk or to hang the picture frame on a wall or surface.
My prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,402,878 of Jun. 11, 2002, covers a process for making a picture frame with border artwork. Border artwork is printed on a sheet of material and attached to a transparent panel which is laser cut to conform to the border artwork. The border artwork is zone coated with an adhesive over the printed artwork and attached to the transparent sheet of material so that cutting the printed sheet along the marked cut inside path forms a cutout of the printed sheet which is removed to provide a transparent window for viewing a picture placed therein. The process includes folding the polymer sheet and attaching a frame stand thereto. My prior U.S. Pat. No. 6,395,125 of May 28, 2002 is for a process for making a picture frame which includes the steps of printing border artwork on a transparent sheet of material leaving a transparent center window and making an outer cut path for the printed transparent sheet. The printed transparent sheet is coated with an adhesive and attached to a transparent polymer member which is cut along an outer cut path to form an exterior border edge.
The present invention is an improvement over my prior patents where a process for making a picture frame makes the back frame member from a separate sheet of material having a foldout stand cut thereinto which reduces the cost of manufacturing of a picture frame having a printed and decorative border around a window.
The present process is for making a laminated plastic picture frame having a decorative border which can be made in any desired shape. The high quality and fine print detail are laminated onto a plastic frame without the use of expensive die charges such that small runs are economically feasible while also allowing fast and large production runs.
A process for making a picture frame having printed border artwork on a transparent front panel has a separately attached rear panel. The process includes the printing of border art and registration marks on the front sheet of material having a pressure sensitive adhesive backing with a protective cover. A cut path is then marked in a computer for cutting the printed artwork edges. The printed border sheet is then front coated with an adhesive and attached to a transparent front panel. The front panel is then, laser cut along the computer marked cut path to cut the surrounding edge of the printed border artwork along the outside of the artwork and along the inside of the artwork to cut out a window in the front panel inside the border artwork. The cutout window is removed and the pressure sensitive backing liner is removed from the border printed sheet attached to the front panel. A thin transparent polymer sheet is attached to a portion of the pressure sensitive adhesive coated sheet material and over the cutout window covering the adhesive up to one edge of the front panel. The process includes marking a cut path in a computer for cutting the picture frame back panel including cutting a foldout picture frame stand into the frame back panel and cutting the picture frame back panel along the marked cut path in the computer. The cut picture frame back panel is then attached to the cut transparent front panel over the border art and over the window covering sheet with the uncovered pressure sensitive adhesive on the border artwork sheet. Since the window covering sheet of polymer material extends to one edge of the adhesive, the space between the one edge and the frame back panel is left unattached so that a display picture can be inserted therebetween and into the window of the picture frame. The picture frame back may be made of a paperboard and have the picture frame stand formed therein to reduce the cost of the picture frame.